Improvement in keys for locks



w. E. HAWKINS.

.lmprovement in Keys for Locks.

N0.124,266, 4 I I Pate ntedMarch 5, I872. v

ft? 2 I UNITED STATES ATEN'I QFFICE.

WESTEL E. HAWKINS, OF WALLINGFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO HIM- SELF AND GURDON W. HULL, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN KEYS FOR LOCKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 124,266, dated March 5, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WEsTEL E. HAWKINS, of Wallingford, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Pad-Locks; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawing constitutes part of this specification, and represents in Figure 1, a front view of the lock; Fig. 2, an edge View; Fig. 3, a longitudinal central section; Fig. 4, a perspective view of the key in position to be inserted; and in Fig. 5, a side view of the key in position as in the lock to operate the tumbler.

This invention relates to an improvement in device for operating the tumblers of locks, especially adapted to padlocks, and here represented in that connection.

Usually the tumblers are operated by a key inserted at right angles, having the bit constructed so that by turning the key the tumblers will be raised. This exposes to some eX- tent the mechanism of the lock to burglarious operations. To avoid this is the object of my invention, and it consists in the construction of the key so as to be inserted in a line parallel to the tumblers, and when so inserted the bit, which is jointed to the key, may be turned up without the movement of the key, shank, or spindle to operate the tumblers, whereby a thin key may be employed, and narrower than the length of the bit, so that an implement which can be inserted through the key-holes cannot reach the tumblers.

A is the lock-case, B the bar, of any desirable form, pivoted together at O in the usual manner. D are the tumblers, more or less in number, hung at d, their end constructed as at a to catch into a notch in the end of the bar B in the usual manner for this class of looks. The key represented in Fig. 4 consists of a flat plate, 1, to which an extension, R, is hinged, of about the same width as the plate I, but no more. To the said hinged part It a rod, 1", is connected, extending to the end of the plate, so that by drawing upon the said rod the part B is raised, as seen in Fig. 5. The key-holeis formed as at H, in shape a transverse section of the plate P and rod 1', and in such relative position to the tumblers that the key, when extended, as in Fig. 4, will be inserted through the key-hole into the lock in a line nearly parallel to the tumblers, and when so inserted the the rod 1" is drawn out, the plate being held fast, to raise the part it to a perpendicular position or nearly so, as denoted in Fig. 3, to come in contact with the tumblers. The end of the said hinged part It is cut in like man nor as the bit of an ordinary key, so as to conform to the irregular movement required for the tumblers. Therefore, by raising the bit It of the key the tumblers are raised to release bolt, and, pressing in, the rod returns the bit,

when the key may be removed. By this construction the length of the bit may be considerably more than the width of the plate l or corresponding key-hole H; hence no instrument of sufficient length to reach the tumblers can be inserted through the key-hole.

I claim as my invention- A key, consisting of the plate P and hinged bit It, combined with the rod 4', by means of,

which the bit is brought into contact with and operates the tumblers after the insertion of the key into the lock, substantially as described.

\VESTEL E. HAWKINS.

Witnesses JOHN M. CULVER, JOHN H. MUNsoN. 

